How much genetic information in RNA form can be protected by a CCMV virus-like particle?

ABSTRACT: The capsid protein of cowpea chlorotic mottle virus (CCMV) has been used extensively for in vitro packaging of heterologous RNA. The associated virus-like particles (VLPs) are spherical with a 3nm-thick/28nm-diameter protein shell and are therefore limited in the amount of RNA they can package. As shown in earlier work, when RNA lengths are longer than ~3500nt the RNA is no longer self-assembled exclusively into a single VLP. Rather, it is shared by two or more 28nm-diameter capsids in the form of doublets, triplets, and higher-order multiplets, with the RNA threaded through the naturally- occurring ~1.5nm-diameter holes in the 180-subunit/icosahedrally-symmetric protein shells. Consistent with this fact we find in the present work that 3500nt is the maximum length of packaged RNA that is

SUBMITTER: Duran Meza AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12694869 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature